Guest guest Posted August 3, 2005 Report Share Posted August 3, 2005 >I recently found a new farmer in our area and when you buy a lamb, you >get the head as well. Not sure exactly what state the head is in. At >any rate, what do I do with it? Any ideas? > >Also, she said I can have any parts from a chicken that I want and I'm >guessing the same may be true for the lamb in the future. So, what >would you get if you could get any and all parts? And how would you use >those parts? I'm still getting used to eating cow liver and my one >attempt at chicken livers wasn't very edible. LOL. > >Steph If you are still getting used to liver, I'd avoid a head! My Mom got a pig head once and made wonderful head cheese. She boiled it up, took all the meat off, and made gelatine out of some parts to hold all the spiced meat together into a nice loaf. It takes hours though, and involves wonderful directions like " swab out the nostrils " and clean the ears, remove hairs, etc. I don't think I could do it! You can boil heads to get all that nice collagen for gelatine. The old recipe books say to just roast a lamb head in front of the fire (then, presumably, you just cut the meaty parts off and nibble them). On one episode of a PBS " old time " reenactment, the cook, angry at the " master " , served a head for dinner (a treat in the old days, but rather disconcerting to the moderns pretending to be living in the past!). The best part, I'm sure, would be the brain, but getting that involves cutting open the head, which isn't easy. Anyway, I've gotten heads in the past but have not been able to bring myself to DO anything with them, and most people think I'm more adventersome than most! Sweetbreads are an easy organ meat to get used to, in my book: you boil them for a bit in salt water, take the membrane off, then fry them up with garlic (or bread them and fry them). Lamb liver is supposed to be very good but I haven't tried it myself. My Mom says lamb kidneys are great, and her favorite was a kind of lamb chop which is cut so that part of the kidney is cut up with the chop. Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 4, 2005 Report Share Posted August 4, 2005 On 8/3/05, Steph <gasteph7@...> wrote: > I recently found a new farmer in our area and when you buy a lamb, you > get the head as well. Not sure exactly what state the head is in. At > any rate, what do I do with it? Any ideas? > > > Steph Steph, Just FYI. Last year when friend and I went to pick up our lamb orders, friend asked for head her Italian Mom wanted for traditional dish. Lamb raiser told her she couldn't do that. Butcher returns heads to her and she buries them. Butcher can't keep for rendering because of sheep disease related to BSE. Wanita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 4, 2005 Report Share Posted August 4, 2005 Steph- >I recently found a new farmer in our area and when you buy a lamb, you >get the head as well. Not sure exactly what state the head is in. At >any rate, what do I do with it? Any ideas? If you can get the head split, brains are delicious. _The Whole Beast_ by Fergus has a delicious recipe for brains with green sauce, though I'd replace the toast with cucumber slices if I were you. You can also make stock with the head, or if you're really ambitious and have a lot of time on your hands, you could try making head cheese. >So, what >would you get if you could get any and all parts? And how would you use >those parts? I'm still getting used to eating cow liver and my one >attempt at chicken livers wasn't very edible. LOL. Chicken feet are vital for stock. Pretty much any other bony or cartilaginous part can go into stock too, I'd think. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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